By Madhuri Dey
Virginia, Nov.4 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Bob McDonnell of the Republican Party was elected the 71st governor of the state of Virginia in a landslide win. He was a former Attorney General. He is the first Republican to win the election and hold his office in the executive mansion after eight years. For the last eight elections, the Democrats had held their throne. He led the GOP sweep of all the offices in the entire state of Virginia. His win was historic, as the margin of eighteen percent is the largest received by a Republican so far.

The victory of McDonnell marks a definite progress for the Republicans. With this result, they hope that they can make a comeback in the political scene in Virginia. They hope that the results will keep up for the midterm elections next year too. They seem to have gained in strength in the House of Delegates too. They have gained five seats so far, as per the counts last night. This is the first time since 2001 that they have won any seats at all in the House. The results were positive even when only a part of the votes had been counted. McDonnell was ahead of his Democrat rival R. Creigh Deeds by a huge margin.

McDonnell’s victory is being touted as a major blow to President Barack Obama. He had taken on Virginia in the Presidential elections last year. Just one year after him, McDonnell won the elections against the Democrats. The Virginia elections are one of the most high profile ones held in the country. The Republicans asserted that the results reflected a common disillusionment regarding Obama, and that this very attitude is likely to affect the Presidential elections too.